


Popsy

by TresTails12



Category: No Fandom
Genre: Fantasy, kind of like folklore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-08
Updated: 2020-10-08
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:47:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 894
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26886850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TresTails12/pseuds/TresTails12
Summary: There is a small thing that generations have befriended. Be kind to her and your friendship will last eternity.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 2





	Popsy

**Author's Note:**

> A very very short story

When you reach where the meadow meets the creek, you take a left at the stacked rocks. The ones covered in moss, not the barren ones. And when you find the archway of trees with hanging vines, ignore it. Don’t go down that path, no matter how tempting it may seem. You go past that and find a little slope; there the real entrance is, made of stone, blanketed with decaying moss and etched with old carvings. Don’t dwell by this gate for too long, you will meet unsatisfactory residents of the forest if you do. 

Go through and enter the woods that have the scent of a morning in Autumn. The leaves will appear like they do in the Fall; golden, orange, and scarlet. But the further you trek, they will shift into a warm summer's green. When you reach the middle of the forest, you must walk until you find the old stump. You can’t miss it, it’s the size of a castle, that stump. It saddens me to think what type of tree it once was and who dare cut it down. 

Sit on that stump, my darling. Sit there and wait. Bring a lunch with you, but you won’t have to be patient for more than one meal. You sit and you listen to the forest around you. To the birds and small things that skitter just out of your line of sight. And when the sun wanes hours before night falls, you’ll see her. You’ll see my dear Popsy.

She’s a small creature, perhaps one of the ones you just barely missed out of eye. Scraggly and mangy, not so graceful and majestic as the people in town would have you believe. You’ll have supper for two waiting for her and when you feed Popsy, don’t stare too long at her fangs and claws unless you have a compliment ready for them. She does like plenty of compliments that one.

She is also very fond of any admiration for her long matted black hair that is filled with twigs and leaves. If possible, try to give her a flower to put in it. She’ll like that. 

By then, the moon will be in the sky, even though night won’t have fallen back here at our cabin. Little glowing things you will mistake as fireflies will emerge out of the grass, they are harmless and Popsy likes to chase them. You’ll hear soft strings coming from somewhere, do not mind them, the fae play best at night. You will see them up in the trees, try to politely wave.

If anything too big shows up, do not fear, Popsy will protect you. I remember once, a large bear with an antler crown showed itself, but dear Popsy scared him off. It makes me wonder if big things are scared of such a small creature, how wicked she could have been without me there.

But you never fear Popsy. If you do, you’ll lose her forever. That is what my grandmother told me. She once saw her take down a hunter that was trespassing. My grandmother was so afraid of what Popsy did that the little thing became dejected and grandmother never saw her again. It took a lot of hard work for my mother to regain her trust, and well, you know the rest.

Once you eat and play, Popsy will take you to a pond. It is deep in the blue ferns, residing in a grove, and obscured by silver moonlight. She will drink from this pond, and this is where you make your choice, my darling. If you condersidately refuse, and drink from your wineskin then the night will come to an end and Popsy will take you back to the archway, and curtly take her leave, and then you can see her at the end of the next month like before. 

But if you take a drink from that pond, my child, I’m afraid you’ll never come past the archway ever again. You will live with Popsy, and want to play with her in an endless night. I will tell you now, that you will never see us again. You will never see your dear grandmother and you will have forfeited your mortal life for the small thing and live an immortal one, spending the night with her, just like my great grandmother. But the only night you may not spend with Popsy is the one at the end of the month, when people who haven’t drank from the pond may enter the forest.

If that is what you desire, then I shall not stop you for living a life with dear Popsy. I myself am too hesitant to drink because eternity is too much for my mind to grasp. But maybe when you enter that forest and meet her, is when you decide to stay. And you will not come back to our little cabin, that I shall understand.

So, when you go tomorrow, weigh your choices of happiness. I will wait for you until dawn once you depart, but after then I will know your decision.

Sleep, sweet child. Dream of her before you meet. Close your eyes and dream of running through the night, laughing and playing. Sleep until the fantasy is real, and tomorrow you awaken to perhaps your last sight of morning.


End file.
